Dilip Cherian Blog

Cherian's Choice

In his long battle against the establishment, senior Haryana IAS officer and noted whistleblower Ashok Khemka has undergone many trying times. In his famously peripatetic career in the civil service, Mr Khemka has been transferred more than 50 times, six times during the tenure of the current BJP government in the state. So, it was no surprise that his name figured yet again in the recent administrative reshuffle by the Haryana government. Mr Khemka, who is principal secretary of sports and youth affairs, has been posted as principal secretary of the Science and Technology Department. However, the babu has managed to score yet another moral victory over the Manohar Lal Khattar government. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld his plea and expunged adverse remarks made by Mr Khattar in the babu’s annual confidential report for 2016-17. These remarks would have cost Mr Khemka his next promotion as an additional secretary in the Central government. It was clearly a move to clip Mr Khemka’s wings, but it has now backfired on the state government. Curiously, the chief minister ignored the “outstanding” rating given by his own minister, Anil Vij, who was Mr Khemka’s reviewing authority at the time. With the judiciary backing him, Mr Khemka has survived but, more importantly, scored a major “moral” victory.